CITY DIRECTS POLICE TO SHUN DEA IN POT BUSTS

Measure Passes Council Smoothly

The Berkeley City Council quietly and unanimously passed a resolution
affirming the city's support for medical marijuana Tuesday night.

Against the recommendation of City Manager Weldon Rucker, the council
directed the Berkeley Police Department not to cooperate with the Drug
Enforcement Administration in investigations of medical marijuana clubs.

In a meeting dominated by the controversial "Crisis in the Middle East"
proposal, few in the packed council chambers noticed when Mayor Shirley
Dean moved the marijuana resolution to the front of the agenda, where it
was dispatched without discussion.

"We could have given a lot of speeches on how great we think (medical
marijuana) is, but I'm more interested in getting things done," said
Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

The city's Police Review Commission drafted the measure, which is similar
to a law San Francisco passed late last year.

The measure directs the police department to enforce Proposition 215, the
1996 state initiative legalizing medical marijuana.

But marijuana use of any kind is illegal under federal law, which
supercedes state law, so the DEA has ignored Prop. 215.

David Ritchie, chair of the Police Review Commission, said the DEA should
give up its prosecution of medical marijuana, in light of more serious
problems facing the federal government.

"They don't have the moral authority and they certainly don't have the
facts on their side," he said.

Despite the measure's passage, the police department's relationship with
the DEA will not suffer, said DEA Special Agent Richard Meyer.

"We know we have the moral support of the (Berkeley police) officers," he
said. "It is an inconvenience, but it's something we can live with."

Meyer said the new law will not "stop us from doing our jobs." He said the
DEA only busts medical marijuana clubs when evidence from other
investigations leads them in that direction.

The DEA has never raided a Berkeley medical marijuana club, but two months
ago it made a major bust in San Francisco.

The agency informed the San Francisco Police Department just before it
raided the Harm Reduction Center, a medical marijuana distribution club.
City police assisted only in crowd control, Meyer said.

Initially an opponent of the measure, Dean said she feared it would draw
the DEA's attention to the city and invite a similar bust.

Dean said she changed her mind after the DEA said the measure would not
affect its relationship with Berkeley police.

"I was more concerned with a, 'hey, keep a low profile,' kind of thing,"
she said. "But once you don't have a low profile, you can't go back."

As an alternative to the commission's resolution, Rucker recommended the
council endorse a proposed federal bill that would leave medical marijuana
laws to the discretion of states.

Most of the public attended the meeting to weigh in on the controversial
proposal to divest from Israel.

Only one member of the public testified in favor of the medical marijuana
measure. None testified against it.

Councilmember Polly Armstrong called the medical marijuana debate "old
news," and said she was not surprised at the measure's easy passage.

"I think it's real clear Berkeley people across the board think that if you
need to smoke marijuana, you ought to be able to smoke marijuana," she said.

The council, however, tabled a second measure calling for the city's
support for Ed Rosenthal, a high-profile marijuana grower arrested in the
Harm Reduction Center bust.